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Gun:
Showdown

Score:
8.5 / 10

The
Wild, Wild West that defined the expanding landscape of 19th-century
America, while not totally ignored, has always been a underutilized
setting for games. There have been plenty of great Western-themed games,
just not as many as the genre would seem to warrant. I mean, you have
horse wrangling and riding, gunfights, cowboys and Indians, and New
World settling out in the untamed wilderness of undiscovered American
soil as possible storylines for games. Two of the more recent
Western-centric games were the excellent Oddworld: Strangerís Wrath
and the gritty, M-rated Gun, which has rustled up a PSP spin-off, Gun
Showdown.

Gunís
console gameplay, which can simply be described as Grand Theft
Auto-meets the Old West, is brought to the portable playground. Youíre
one Colton White, a once-meek-but-now-vengeful wronged man seeking
vigilante justice in and around Dodge City for the unspeakable events
and consequences of an ill-fated hunting trip. But this isnít just a
complete port of the console version. For the PSP, there are new
multiplayer (which, for some reason, werenít included for consoles)
and quick-play mini-game modes, although thereís a somewhat

scaled
back story mode (that moves as a too-frenetic pace, even with some
additions absent from the consoles) with plenty of side missions (such
as making deliveries, collecting bounties, even playing in high-stakes
games of Texas hold-íem poker) that pay off in money or increases to
your abilities statistics.

One
major change adapted for the PSP, lacking a second analog

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stick, is the
control schematic. It does well considering youíll be using a D-pad as
a major contributor to navigating Colton throughout his dangerously wild
Western adventuring. Coltonís movements are dealt to the lone PSP
analog stick, while the four face buttons manipulate where heís
looking and aiming (as well as flinging your sidearm back into its
holsterís resting place and also switching weapons), although
thereís overgenerous auto-aiming that comes in handy during hot and
heavy bullet-exchanging. That can be reversed so that the gun aiming is
mapped to the analog stick while Colton is moved around with the D-pad,
but either way will take an adjustment period for console gamers.

While
the controls are OK for moseying Colton around and firing his
six-shooter, it doesnít feel quite as secure when it comes to
Coltonís horseback riding, especially when thereís gunfire heading
your way. And although the console version wasnít exactly the
prettiest lass on the ranch, with sometimes-muddied visuals, the
development team does a rather commendable job bringing a nearly
matching graphical level to the PSP.

Saddle
up, hombre, for Gun Showdownís a straight-shooting, hang-íem high
good Western escapade (you almost expect Clint Eastwood, Mr. Spaghetti
Western himself, to make an appearance). A solid story with accompanying
satisfyingly gory and glorified GTA-esque Western gunplay along with
added multiplayer and mini-game modes overcome a too-short story mode
and just-barely-OK controls as Gun Showdown ride off into the sunset as
a quality Western-themed adventure for the PSP.